Latinos have surpassed other minorities in Chicago, including African Americans, in population, becoming the second largest racial and ethnic group in the city after U.S. Whites, according to the most recent Census data.

"Hispanics", the label invented and used by the U.S. Census - which includes Latinos and Latin American descendants - now make up nearly a third of the city's total population of 2.7 million residents.

Last year, 803,000 Hispanic residents were reported in Chicago, up 2 percent from 2015. The driving force behind the Hispanic growth are births and not immigration, as had traditionally been the case, the data found.

The African-American population has declined considerably in the city, down about 250,000 residents since 2000, a loss attributed to a lack of jobs and opportunities in Chicago, street violence, and peaking taxes.

Besides climbing in population, recent research shows Hispanics/Latinos have spread out to new areas of Chicagoland. Once concentrated on the Southwest and Northwest sides of Chicago, the population is now scattered throughout the city and suburbs.

According to a report compiled by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Metropolitan Family Services, the communities with the largest number of Hispanics/Latinos are:

Nearly 75 percent of Hispanics in these communities are Mexican and Mexican American, followed by Puerto Ricans, Ecuadorians, and Guatemalans, respectively.

Some historically Latino neighborhoods are also experiencing demographic change, including through gentrification and displacement. Logan Square, on the city’s Northwest Side, has lost more than 20,000 Hispanics, and Pilsen has lost approximately 10,000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans since 2010.

Further demographic data demonstrates that education, annual income, access to public services, affordable healthcare, job training, and employment opportunities have not kept up with the Hispanic population’s growth and needs, and Hispanics lag behind other ethnic groups in access to these areas.

Following the release of the UIC data, Latino aldermen called for more city jobs and services for their communities, particularly more Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) jobs allocated to Latinos.

"Latinos are present throughout Chicago’s neighborhoods and have unique social, economic and housing successes and challenges. I hope that this data will be used to advance discussions about the policies that affect them," said the author of the UIC report, José Miguel Acosta-Córdova.